on this winter's night
by bookishgypsy
Summary: Twenty five days of Christmas themed one-shots and drabbles featuring our two favorite weirdos.
1. mistletoe

_I think I'm attempting the impossible with this...please wish me luck with actually finishing all twenty-five of these. I'll be posting one a day all the way up until Christmas day. These are all at random periods in their lives and none of them are connected to one another in any way._

* * *

She's so incredibly bored.

She isn't surprised, parties weren't really her thing and they probably would never be, but the entourage of people surrounding her are surprised by this, constantly reminding her there's plenty of activities to partake in and plenty of people to talk with, but really, she just wants to go home and curl up on the couch with her boyfriend and put a movie in.

She tells him this with the holiday themed music reverberating throughout the halls, the group of people dancing to the music and drinking all around them. The Christmas tree in the living room is lit up in an assortment of colors, a variety of different ornaments hanging from top to bottom, the traditional silver star sitting atop the green tree.

"You want to watch a movie?"

She purses her lips together when she looks up at him from their small corner of the Treble house, who were more than enthusiastic to host this years holiday party for the university's a cappella groups. "Okay, no. But, I thought that it might get you out of here faster."

He laughs lightly, pulling her in close to him by her tiny frame. "You're something else, Beca Mitchell."

She leans her weight against him slightly, tilting her chin up towards him to look him in the eyes. "Please?"

Jesse doesn't reply, just moves his arm up to hold her firm on her shoulder, leaning down to push his lips against her own. She eases into it happily, drowning out the conversations around her and the music playing loudly from the boombox. He pulls back a beat later, eyes still trained in on her blue ones. "Alright. Let's go."

:::

They make it back to the Bellas house, just next door to where they were, walking hand in hand in the cool, chilly air that seems to be so appropriate for the holiday season. The dark night is lit up by the Christmas lights hanging up on most of the surrounding homes, the lake across the street reflecting all the different hues into the night from the houses bordering the body of water. There's Christmas music still in their range of hearing from the party they just left, 'Baby It's Cold Outside's' soft echoes making its way out of the house walls.

The couple puts on a pair of pajamas before curling up together on the couch, Beca leaning against Jesse's chest lightly in the Bellas living room, flicking the TV on, Jesse searching for another new Christmas movie to introduce to his girlfriend.

"Oh," he says, plastering a confused look onto his face. He reaches behind him, pulling the small green leaf out from behind his back and waving it up above both of their heads. "What do I have here?"

"You know, you didn't need the mistletoe to get a kiss tonight. You could have just kissed me. Really, I would have been okay with that."

"I know," he says, grinning down at her lazy form resting against him. "But, I thought it'd be romantic."

"You really are the biggest dork I've ever met," she says, but she leans up to kiss him softly against his lips regardless.


	2. hot chocolate

_This one kind of got away from me. I hope you don't mind it being a little bit longer?_

* * *

He makes it into the dining hall late one day, much later than he normally would make it in for his typical dinner time. But the Trebles had an atypical rehearsal schedule that week - including the one he had just escaped from that ran until 8pm.

The dining hall's decorated for the upcoming holiday, as it had been for the past few weeks now. Bright lights running around the windows, a tree in the corner, decorated with only a few ornaments that students had probably put up themselves. There's green and red and silver tinsel wrapped around the beams from floor to ceiling, tinsel wrapped around the cases displaying the food options that were still available for him to choose from.

He swipes his student identification card to pay for his measly selection of hot chocolate and a bagel - a quick fix to end his grumbling stomach. He turns around to find a seat to sit in when he spots her.

Beca.

She's sitting in the far corner, at the table closest to the Christmas tree lit up with the red and blue and pink and green lights, her face buried into her laptop, headphones wrapped around her neck.

All alone.

He doesn't even hesitate when he turns around to make a second purchase.

He walks in her direction after, she's completely oblivious to her surroundings - she probably preferred it that way, he guessed, to just pretend she was alone and that no one else existed.

"Mind if I join you?"

Her eyes dart up at him. She's silent for a moment, the lights of the tree reflecting against the windows behind her figure. He shouldn't have bothered her, she really didn't seem to like company, but her response surprises him when she answers a beat later. "I guess not."

He places the hot paper cup in front of her before sitting himself down in the chair directly across from her. "I bought you a hot chocolate."

She's so shy, so timid in her response that he's not sure if it's her when she mutters a simple, "Thanks."

He takes a moment before pointing his finger at her computer and continuing with, "Whatcha working on?"

"Just a paper for class."

"What class?"

She only shrugs in response and looks back at the screen in front of her; it doesn't seem like she's going to say anything else, so he decides to press a little further.

"Do you need any help?"

She looks up from her screen then, confused eyes and a dead stare meet his welcoming gaze. "No."

She doesn't want to be bothered, he can tell. He shouldn't have even bothered buying the second cup of hot chocolate and trying to spend some time with her, it's clear she wants to be left alone.

He's about to get up and leave, find somewhere else to sit or just head back to his dorm room. But, when she pulls the hot liquid up to her lips a moment later, takes a small sip and a tiny, little smile forms at the corner of her mouth - he counts it as a success.

:::

He doubts she remembers, figures she's completely forgotten about their meet up last year at the end of the fall semester, but he does, he remembers clearly, a small success in chipping away at the walls he had to climb so high to get over - a tiny glimpse into the real Beca Mitchell.

It's the last week of classes before their winter break; they've both working on their end of the year assignments, studying for the final exams that were rapidly approaching them and they had both been so busy, most of their time dedicated to their education, barely having a moment to spend with each other.

He tells her on the last day of classes, the last Friday before exams start the following Monday, that they're in need of a break, tells her he'll meet her at the Bella's house after rehearsal when his own a capella group had ended.

He shows up a few hours after the sun had already set in the west, rehearsal running slightly behind schedule as it normally did. He walks up the girls staircase slowly and softly, carrying the beverage tray in one hand and the bag of goodies he had in the other.

She's already under her covers when he walks in to her room. (She's alone, her roommate obviously out for the night and he's happy about that, too.) The lights are dimly lit, just barely enough for him to see his own way into the room and sit down beside her. She rolls over on to her back when she feels the weight of him next to her, opening her eyes to smile up at him as he leans down to kiss her hello softly.

"I brought you something." He holds the bag up in his hands, pointing to the two red cups sitting on her side table. He hands her own of the paper cups as she sits up against her headboard, digging into tiny bag and pulling her out a sugar cookie shaped like Santa Claus.

"Really, Jesse?"

"Santa cookies are iconic for this time of year."

"You're really quite something." Her voice is laced with sarcasm, but he chooses to ignore it, watching on as she pulls the Christmas themed paper cup to her lips, the expression in her face identifying immediately that she knew was he was trying to do. "Hot chocolate?"

"I thought I'd try to start creating some traditions between the two of us," he smiles, leaning down and pulling her close to his side. "Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember." She turns her face into the side of his chest and he can feel her smile against his skin. "All I wanted was for you to leave me alone."

"Aren't you so glad that I stuck around, though?"

He feels her smile grow even wider against the cotton tee he's wearing. "Yeah, I guess."

:::

She decides to take the initiative this year, decides it's her turn to show him how much he means to her and how this silly little three year tradition actually means something to her, too.

She just…doesn't know how to make it as special as he always does. As special as _anything_ he ever seems to do for her. She's not good at this stuff. Not like he is.

She manages to get Benji to let her into the Treble house when they're rehearsing, away from Jesse's watchful eye so he doesn't suspect anything thats coming. She hangs out for a while getting some homework done, she knows she has a few hours to kill before she gets started on anything, but when she notices the time a while later, she gets to work.

She's not great in a kitchen so she settles on buying Swiss Miss French Vanilla cocoa packets, much easier than whipping up a batch from scratch for herself. She microwaves a few cups of milk so it's bubbling, then proceeds to mix the packets of powder and milk with the silver spoon she finds in their silverware drawer.

She pours the warm liquid into two mugs she finds in the cupboard and sneaks off to his room to hide when a few of the guys start to walk through the front door and tell her he's on his way back. She sets the mugs on his side table and gets herself under his covers and only moments later does Jesse appear in the doorway. "Hey, nerd."

"To what do I owe this surprise?"

She sticks her thumb out in the direction of his table. "Just trying to uphold a tradition."

He doesn't say anything, just kicks off his shoes and climbs under the covers next to her and she's quick to rest her head against his shoulder. He pulls one mug and hands it to her before grabbing the second one for himself.

:::

Final exams had just wrapped up on campus when he realizes they've yet to complete their tradition of getting a cup of hot chocolate together this year. He knows he's gotta get it squeezed in tonight, seeing as he was scheduled to be on a flight back home early in the morning, Beca staying behind in Atlanta to spend the holiday's with her father.

She's sleeping in her room when he walks in to the small space she shares with Amy, of course. Beca loved to sleep, and he's not surprised to find her passed out under her warm covers after her exams. He kneels down besides her bed, getting down to be in line with the height her body. He leans in and presses a chaste kiss against her forehead. "Hey, sleeping beauty."

"Go away," she mumbles, barely, not even moving with the sounds that her mouth make.

"C'mon, you gotta get up. We're going out."

She opens her eyes slowly, blue ones meeting brown. "No."

"I'm afraid this isn't negotiable."

Her face scrunches up and she pulls the covers down off her body. "I hate you."

"No, you don't," he chuckles as she pulls herself out of bed and stands on her two feet. "Put on a coat. It's chilly out."

They walk to the little coffee shop thats only a few blocks from campus and he can't help but smile at how when they turn the corner away from the crowd of students, Beca reaches out to tangle their fingers together between them.

"Grab us a table, I'll get the drinks."

Her face turns in his direction. "You didn't even ask what I wanted."

"Beca, we've been together for three years. Give me some credit."

She turns around without saying a word as he watches her find a small little bistro table in the corner of the cafe and sit down in the chair closest to the window. He places his order and grabs the two mug from the barista behind the counter before making his way over to Beca.

He hasn't even sat down when she speaks up. "You think I don't know what you're up to?"

He places her cup in front of her and sits down across from her. "You caught me."

:::

It's when they finally make it to Los Angeles and the holiday's quickly approach them that she begins wondering about their tradition from their four years at Barden, if it's going to continue now that they're actually _living together_.

So many things are different, but still, so much is the same.

She makes it back to their apartment one night from her internship, a little later than he usually gets home from his own work obligations for the day, and he's standing over the stove with a sole saucepan heating up from the orange flames below it. There's a container or Hershey's cocoa powder set on the counter, along with a bag of marshmallows and their carton of milk from the fridge set to the side.

"Hey," he smiles back at her when he notices her in the doorway. "I hope you're in the mood for hot chocolate."

"I didn't think you were going to remember," she confesses quietly, making her way slowly to him standing in front of their stove.

He turns towards her, arms thrown out to his side in surprise. "Oh yea of little faith."

"It's just that…we're living together now," she says. "I don't know. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid." He takes the ladle on the counter and spoons some of the hot liquid into two mugs, handing her the green one, keeping the red one for himself. "In fact, I'm happy to hear you were looking forward to our little tradition."

Of course he didn't forget about their tradition, she thinks as she sips the warm, chocolatey liquid from her mug.

It's _Jesse_.

If anything, this tradition was just in it's beginning stages.

In fact, she thinks there's probably many more traditions to come.


	3. snow

"Bec, Bec, Bec."

She hears it vaguely, the excitement in his voice, the vibrato, the overall dynamic, but it's distant, like she's dreaming, maybe.

She feels him shake her body lightly against her bed and its then when she realizes it's definitely not a dream. "Bec, wake up!"

"Jesse, go away."

"Wake up! It's snowing!"

"No, it's not, Jess." The covers are pulled from her very warm body, whisked away in a split second, the cold air from outside her cocoon of blankets falling against her open skin very suddenly. "Jesse!"

"It's snowing! C'mon, get dressed!"

She can hardly deny the goofy look on his face, can't just let it go, so she relents. She gets herself out of bed, throws on some jeans, her winter coat and her hat, pulling it down to cover her ears before stepping outside the front door of the Bella's house with Jesse ten steps ahead of her.

He's right - it's definitely snowing. There's barely a dusting on the ground and she doubts much more will stick throughout the day, but he's still just as excited. She sticks behind on the front porch while he runs down the steps, sticking his arms out and spinning around in a circle while he tries to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

"Are you going to come join me or what?"

She rolls her eyes back, taking the initiative to walk down the steps towards her dorky boyfriend who's waiting for her with his hand stuck out in her direction. She reaches for him when she's in distance and he pulls her right into his side, lacing their fingers together.

"Do you want to build a snowman with me?"

"I don't think there's enough snow on the ground for that, Jess."

He nods his head up and down rapidly, "Okay, maybe you're right."

"I know I'm right."

He brushes his fingers against the side of her face, pushing away a few stray hairs, leaning down the small amount to press his lips against her cold ones softly for a moment. He pulls back and says, "Our first kiss in the snow."

"No. We're not doing that. We're not going to be that couple."

He chuckles lightly while he asks, "Doing what?"

"Marking down every dumb, little thing that happens in this relationship."

"Hmm, okay. If you say so," he says, eyebrows raised slightly as he squeezes her left hand thats tangled together with his own. "But what do you say to marking down our second kiss in the snow?"

And, well, she kind of hates herself for how quickly her lips seem to find his again.

* * *

 _Do you know how much I hate writing fluff? Hint: It's a lot._


	4. candy cane

It's when the Christmas decorations that start popping up around campus, the hallways, the cafeteria, the outdoor lighting fixtures, that Jesse realizes he's almost done with his first semester of college. It doesn't really feel real; he can't possibly be done with _one full semester_ of his college life already. Four months have flown by and he's kind of saddened by how quickly things seem to be moving, but honestly, he can't wait to have a month break and travel back to his hometown for a bit.

He tries to stop by Beca's dorm before his parents arrive to pick him up for winter break, but she's nowhere to be found. Kimmy Jin was no help - only shrugging when he asked if she knew where Beca was, not even bothering to look up to acknowledge Jesse's presence.

He didn't know if she'd left already, didn't know if she was sticking in Atlanta for the holidays with her dad, or heading back up to the Northeast to spend some time with her mother. It's not like he asked, but he's pretty positive that even if he did she wouldn't have given him a response anyway.

He doesn't want to just leave, doesn't want to disappear for a month without so much as saying goodbye to her. He thinks, (he hopes), that they'll keep in touch over break, that maybe she'd text him and see how his breaks going, but it's Beca, and he's honestly not sure if that's something that will happen.

He decides on picking up a sole peppermint candy cane from the school store, scribbling a little note on a piece of paper and wrapping it around the object with a small piece of string, and sticking the red and white piece of candy against the cardboard bulletin board outside her dorm room.

:::

She makes her way back to her dorm late that night; she tries to avoid her living corridors seeing as her roommate doesn't make for good company and she'd much prefer to be alone, anyway. She's sees the foreign object on her door when she walks up to it, hanging from the tact board against the door from a small little, black thumbtack and she's pretty certain she already knows who's behind it.

Beca takes the candy cane from it's dangling position, finding the small little folded note wrapped around the hard candy and unwrapping it to find this message in his almost unreadable scrawl:

 _Happy holidays, Beca.  
_ _\- Jesse_

She folds the note up in her hand, cursing herself for being unable to stop the small smile that forms against her face.

:::

It's not until he gets home and settled in to his childhood bedroom that he finally checks his phone for any missed calls or text messages. He doesn't expect to find anything, it'd only been a couple hours after all, so he's surprised when he finds his phone indicating an unread message from Beca.

 _Thank you. Merry Christmas._


	5. christmas tree

It's the first year since they've been in Los Angeles that they actually have enough money to spare to buy themselves a decent sized Christmas tree, rather than the small table-sized one they've been putting on their dark wooden coffee table for the past four years. The tree was big enough for them, really, it was pre-lit with white lights and they didn't need many ornaments to make it look decorative. There was plenty of space to fit the few presents they'd buy each other and that's really all that mattered to the both of them.

But this year, they go to a local tree farm and pick out the best looking one on the lot. Beca's not loving the whole process of walking through acres of land, looking at countless trees in her path, but Jesse can't hide the smile off his face, completely enthralled with the task of finding _just_ the right tree for the special time of year.

"They all look the same to me," she says, arms crossed amongst the different trees all standing at different heights among them. "They're all just trees."

"The trees find your comments very offensive, Bec." Jesse continues walking ahead of his girlfriend as she trails behind unimpressed with the whole process. He stops suddenly and she bumps into his back when he does. "This is the one."

She looks it up and down, just once, quickly, in only a split second and replies to him with a simple, "Sure."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she shrugs. "Okay, great, cool, we're done."

They make it to their apartment sometime later, the darkness of night had already set, the sun setting only an hour ago on their drive home, creating a pink and orange glow across the sky before disappearing until the day began again the next day.

Jesse carries the tree up the three flights of stairs, without much of any assistance from Beca, placing it in the empty corner of their living room he'd dedicated to the tree this season. He straightens out the branches while Beca brings out the box of ornaments and other decorations they've collected throughout their eight year relationship.

Jesse puts his Christmas music on shuffle, playing softly behind them, and he disappears for a moment down the hall, returning with two Santa hats for them to wear throughout the night.

"Really, Jesse?" Beca looks at her boyfriend who comes out of their bedroom with the red and white hat resting atop his head.

"Really." Jesse hands her one for herself and she complies with putting it atop her head, but not without making sure Jesse catches her eyes rolling far back into her head.

"You're so weird."

They stand side by side, their box of ornaments set between them on the floor, as they both continuously lean down to pick up a little decoration to hang on their freshly picked tree. Kelly Clarkson's 'Underneath The Tree' starts playing through Jesse's speakers, and he steps away for a moment to turn the song up promptly before resuming his place by Beca's side. He sings along with the words, dances in his place, all while continuing with the task at hand.

Beca laughs lightly in place, watching her boyfriend move along with the music playing. He sees the look she's giving him out of the corner of her eye and asks, "What?"

"Nothing, I just…this is nice. I'm actually having fun. I love you, you dork."

He leans down slightly, their lips meeting in the center of them, as the song comes to an end and the next one begins. He pulls back from her and whispers, "I love you, too."

* * *

 _Ugh. Fluff. I need to be stopped._


	6. lights

He's happy his parents manage to help him buy an old, used car when he enters his sophomore year. Not being confined to campus has it's benefits - like, taking advantage of food _off_ campus which is far better than the food that's offered at the university, being able to pick up things he needs at the store without depending on someone else, and the biggest plus - being able to spend time alone with Beca away from their circle of friends.

That has to be the biggest benefit the car had to offer.

It's only when the cooler weather starts to settle in the air and December quickly approaches them that he remembers he can take advantage of his car for one more thing, a tradition that his parents and younger sister have done for years, something that he wishes to share with Beca now, too.

He takes her out for dinner on Friday night, like they typically do, to be able to get out at the end of the school week and grab something simple for dinner. This time though, instead of taking the left turn that would take them back to campus from the restaurant, he takes the right turn, immediately prompting Beca to ask him, "Where are we going?"

"I thought we could go for a drive," he says. He doesn't look in her direction, keeps his eyes on the road in front of him, but he knows she's confused. He can feel how her eyes are on him at his attempt to keep her in the dark. "My family and I used to drive around town around Christmastime to see all the lights on the houses."

"Oh," she states. "You know, they have pictures of that stuff on the internet."

"Oh, Bec," he says. "There's no fun in that, though."

He finds a small little suburban neighborhood just a few blocks down, decides to take the left turn down the dark road before slowing down his speed to ensure they can see all the decorations this street has to offer.

"Pretty boring so far, I've gotta say."

"Give it a moment." He looks over at her in the passengers seat, she's completely unimpressed with the whole situation so far. "There's bound to be a least one house decorated on this street."

He continues to drive slowly up the roadway, and they finally come across a small Cape Cod style house that has a string of white lights dangling down from its rooftop.

He feels her tap her hand against his shoulder rapidly when she points her opposite hand in the direction of the house up ahead. "There's one, Jess."

"See, I told you we'd find some." He's happy to see her a little excited over the bright lights. "You just had to be patient."

"It's pretty boring, though. And unoriginal," she mutters. She pulls her feet up to her chest, unimpressed. "Keep driving. I see more up ahead."

They find a few more of the same, plainly and simply decorated houses, before they come across what he was hoping to find - a fully decorated house with hundreds of lights, the maple trees in their front yard covered from top to bottom in white bulbs, a few assorted glowing snowmen, and a bright silver sleigh being led by all it's reindeer.

"Holy shit." Her words make him laugh from his position behind the wheel. "Jess, do you _see_ this house?"

He pulls his car over, putting it in park to allow the two of them to admire the decor. "Isn't it awesome?"

"It's insane is what it is," she says. He loves seeing the different lightings and decorations against all the houses, he always has, but his favorite sight has to be Beca's reaction to seeing this fully lit house in front of them. "This must cost a fortune to have all these lights out like this."

"Sure, it does," he offers. "But, look at how incredible it looks."

"When we're living in a house one day, we're not putting Christmas lights on our house. What a waste of time and money." She turns to his direction to find him sitting there with his lips curving upwards in a small grin. "What?"

"You see us living in a house one day together?"

"That's what you took from that?"

His smile only grows at the irritation in her voice. "You see it, don't you? You see us together in the future."

She looks down at her lap and crosses her arms across her chest. He can see how her expression changes, how quiet her voice becomes when she says, "I guess, yeah, I do."

"Well, that's good, because I do, too," he replies after a moment. He reaches over to rest the palm of his hand against her knee. She looks up in his direction at his touch and matches the smile on his face. "But, I'm sorry to say, we will be decorating our house with lights."


	7. snowball

Beca _hates_ the snow.

Absolutely despises the white power with every fiber of her being.

Sure, it looked pretty when it was falling and when it would first stick to the ground, but when you had to go outside and deal with the cleanup and drive on the slippery, icy roads - it was a real pain in the ass.

She'd rather not deal with that.

She might not have wanted to come to Barden at first, might have fought it with every argument she had in her, but the only thing she could say she was honestly looking forward to about Georgia at first was the warmer climate the Southeastern United States had to offer over the bitter cold Northeast climate she was used to.

So, when she wakes up to find classes cancelled one morning because of a _snowstorm_ , Beca Mitchell is not happy.

Not having classes is great, don't get her wrong, but the three inches of snow on the ground is _not_.

And then when her boyfriend texts her, excited as all hell about the snow _and_ the unexpected day off from school, she puts her foot down and tells him they will absolutely _not_ be playing in the snowy weather today like he requested.

She makes her way over to his place, just next door to the house she shares with the rest of the Bellas, fully prepared to spend her day in bed with him watching TV, movies, and sleeping. Mostly sleeping, if she's being honest. She makes it to the front porch, kicking her feet at the base of the first step to shake most of the snow that stuck to her on her walk off of her shoes, but when she's about to start actually making her way up the front steps, her back is hit with a cold, hard ball of snow.

"Jesse!" She whips her body around to try to find the location of her attacker, but he's nowhere to be seen. "Jesse, this isn't funny!"

His head pops up from behind one of the bushes in front of the home he resides in, just as another ball of white fluff comes flying in her direction and hits her against her shoulder.

"You don't know how lucky you are that that missed my face."

He starts walking slowly towards her position on the front porch. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Beca stays silent as he walks towards her. The way she sees it, is she has two options: go inside and wait until her boyfriend finally caved and followed behind her, or play at his own game and give him a taste of his own medicine.

Really, her decision is quite simple when she thinks about it.

She leans her body down to the ground that's covered with a few inches of the fluffy, white powder, and rolls up a ball tightly in her hand and chucks the snowball at him, hitting him square against his chest.

"Beca Mitchell, I am impressed," he smiles, finishing the short distance between the two of them.

"You're also an asshole."

"Yeah, but you love me," he smirks and shrugs his shoulders, reaching his left hand over to tuck the few stray hairs behind her ears.

"I'm not sure why, to be honest." He presses his lips against her forehead for a lingering moment. She turns on her heel and says, "Okay, you had your fun. We're going inside now."

And, well, she's not really that surprised when she feels the hard snowball hit her back once again when she's trying to open the door.


	8. decorations

"Do you plan on helping me with anything or are you just going to continue sitting on the couch?"

"Well, you're just doing such a fantastic job all on your own and I'd hate to disrupt that."

Decorating for Christmas is _so_ not her idea of a good time. No, she'd much prefer to sit on her laptop and watch Jesse do all the work. Beca keeps her focus on her Macbook so she misses the glare Jesse sends in her direction. "Where should I put the snowman figurine your mother gave us?"

She looks up at him in his place across the room. "In the trash?"

He shoots her a deadpanned stare. "Has anyone every told you that you're a grinch?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," she says, closing her laptop shut and resting it on top of their coffee table. "You tell me around this time of year, every year. I'm glad to see we're not breaking that tradition just yet."

"You've somehow managed to escape decorating." He sets the figurine up on their mantle above the fireplace. "For the third year in a row."

"What a shame." Beca tries to put as much disappointment into her words as possible. "I was really looking forward to it this year, too."

He starts piling up the now empty boxes of Christmas decorations to put away for the duration of the next few weeks. "Will you at least help me with one last thing?"

She eyes him carefully. "What?"

"Will you put the star on the tree?" He pulls a silver star out of the last box on the floor, holding it up in his hand for her to see.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of joke because I'm not tall enough?"

"No, Beca," he sighs. "If you didn't notice, I'm not tall enough either." He stops for a brief moment to wait for her response, but it doesn't come right away. "I'll give you a boost so you can reach."

She watches him for a minute for any signs of misdirection in his plans. A moment later she complies, "Fine."

He boosts her up on his shoulders, making sure she's steady enough for her to lean herself forward just a few inches to stick the star on the top branch of the tree. He eases her back down to the floor when she's done and they both step back to admire their work.

"It looks good." She elbows him against his side lightly and says, "We did good with decorating this year."

"I'm sorry, we?"


	9. ice skating

"There's not a chance in hell this is happening."

For whatever reason, her _dumb_ boyfriend has decided on taking a trip to New York City for some holiday shopping this season. And apparently, he had other plans for this trip as well that were mysteriously left out of their conversation about things they _would_ be doing.

Because ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza was definitely not apart of their agreed upon activities.

"Oh, c'mon, Bec." He keeps his hand firmly wrapped in hers, pulling her along gently through the crowd and to the area where they could pick out some skates to borrow. "It'll be fun."

"Jesse, no." She tries to tug her hand out of his grip, but he only holds on tighter, pulling her up to the rental counter.

"A size 7 for me, and a kids size 4 for her," he turns his head over his shoulder to get a glance at the girl with hands crossed across her chest. "Right, Bec?"

"I hate you."

The young worker behind the counter hands them their two pairs of ice skates, Jesse pulling Beca by the hand once again to change into the appropriate footwear. Jesse stands up first from the bench, sticking his hand out for Beca to grab onto.

"Jesse, I don't wanna do this," she says eyeing the hand in front of her. "I'm gonna make a fool of myself."

"You're gonna be fine. I'll hold your hand the whole time, okay?" She steps onto the ice slowly, tightening her grip against his hand at first, but after a few times around the rink, she feels like she's catching on and doesn't need his support as much as she thought she would. "See, you're not so bad at this."

"I'm better than you are," she says. "Which, really, I'm better than you at everything."

On their third lap around the rink, Jesse stops suddenly in front of the tall tree. "Isn't the tree beautiful?"

Beca shrugs. "It's alright."

"You know what? You're right," he says. His eyes trail back and forth between the girl next to him and the cities iconic Christmas tree. "You're far more beautiful."

"Jesse, shut up."

He stops a young, teenage couple that's skating slowly by them and asks them to take their picture with the tree as their backdrop. She thinks it's cheesy and absolutely ridiculous and tries to protest the idea, but he pushes himself against her side and wraps his arm around her waist tightly and she can't help but smile before the camera flash goes off.

And, alright, she might have it professionally printed and framed when they get back to California to put up on top of the mantle in their apartment.

For Jesse, of course.

It's not like she put it up there for herself or anything.


	10. frost

The bitter cold December air is felt throughout the entirety of the bus, Beca can tell. The much below average temperatures for this time of year in Atlanta, the cool night everyone had most definitely not prepared for, it's clear as she looks around her. Everyone has their sweatshirts bundled around them as tight as they can, hands stuffed inside the sleeves as they try to get as warm as they possibly can as they wait for their driver to take the wheel.

They're waiting for Amy, their designated driver for the whole trip, who took the keys with her but hasn't bothered to show up to start their trek back to campus yet. Or turn on the heat for them. Beca figures they'll be waiting for a little bit longer until she decides to finally make an appearance, because it is Amy after all, so she just leans in closer to Jesse to steal some more of his body heat for herself.

Jesse's sitting in the seat closest to the window next to her (he tagged along for the ride and the performance) and she happily curls up next to him when he throws his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in tightly to his side.

Jesse takes his free arm then, the moment she moves herself closer to him and rests her head against his shoulder, pushes it towards to the window and begins writing out a message with his index finger against the cold, frosted glass.

 _I love you_ , it says when he pulls his hand back and she can see the words clearly in front of her.

She can't help but roll her eyes at his initiative. Her boyfriend really is a dork, she thinks. A big, nerdy, dork. She smiles to herself faintly at his message. As dorky and cheesy as his actions were, she can't help but push herself up slightly to respond to his message right below the one he left for her.

 _I love you, too._

* * *

 _10 days down! 15 to go..._


	11. ornaments

It's summertime when they finally take the cross-country road trip to Los Angeles to start their lives together.

Beca wants to fly the long distance, but Jesse has his car. He knows it's old and it won't last them much longer, but he rationalizes with her that it's best they have some form of transportation in the big city, even if it is only for a little while.

It's hot and sticky and there's not nearly enough room for them and all of their stuff in Jesse's small car, but they manage to make it work.

It's a thirty-one hour drive from Atlanta to the City of Angels and Beca's pretty sure she's not going to survive the duration, but Jesse manages to stop plenty throughout the trip. They even stop twice at random hotels to spend the night at in Oklahoma and Arizona to break up the driving times which Beca appreciates.

Jesse stops every few hours at various highway rest stops, too, to allow them to stretch our their muscles. He takes her through the gift shops at their stops in every state, insisting they buy something from each state they visit as a souvenir, as a memory. They have no room in their car for anything that large, so he decides on buying Christmas tree ornaments that represent each of the states they visit. Beca thinks it's stupid that he's buying decorations for a holiday that's 6 months away, but he still finds one from the nine states they travel through.

He picks out an orange peach shaped one in Georgia and a Crimson Tide 'Roll Tide' trinket in Alabama even though neither of them watch college football. In Mississippi he grabs a white magnolia ornament. In Arkansas, a mockingbird decoration and in Oklahoma, one that looks like a cowboy hat. In Texas, they pick up a wooden ornament in the shape of a pair of cowboy boots. In New Mexico and Arizona, they grab a plastic hot air balloon and a cactus ornament. They finally make it to the city, _their_ city, and he's sure to grab an ornament that mimics a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at their final stop before settling into their new apartment together.

When December approaches them quickly after arriving on the West Coast, Beca can't help but laugh at how ridiculous their decorated apartment looks.

They barely have money to afford rent each week, barely have enough to buy themselves decent groceries, but they did manage to buy a tiny table top tree that they set on top of their kitchen island. It's pre-lit with an assortment of different colored lights and covered with the random ornaments from their drive across the country.

It's not exactly Christmasy, nothing about Jesse's ornament selections represent the traditional holiday items, but they don't mind.

It didn't represent the holiday season, but it represented them _._


	12. wrapping paper

He considers them to be an efficient couple.

In multiple departments of their lives, really.

But shopping trips, they were especially good at - always splitting up and sending each other off to get things to make sure their shopping time was at the lowest it could possibly be. It always works, but today, he's honestly wondering why he ever considered trusting Beca Mitchell to be in charge of picking out their wrapping paper for the holiday season. He only can stare at her in silence when she tosses her selection into their shopping cart.

"What?"

"What exactly was going through your head when you decided that," he picks the roll out of the cart. "An assortment of stripping Santa's was an appropriate selection for wrapping presents?"

"I don't know. I thought it was funny."

He points to one particular version of Santa. "Santa's dancing on a stripper's pole!"

"Yeah, that's what's funny."

"There are young children we will be using this wrapping paper for."

"They gotta learn eventually," she says, shrugging her shoulders up and down. "Sooner is better than later. That's what I always say." She pauses, a sudden realization showing in her eyes. "Except during sex, of course."

He pushes the roll of thin paper into her hands. "Go pick out something else. Please."

"What? Why?"

"Something that doesn't include Santa on a stripper's pole this time, please?"

She turns on her heel without saying anything, back in the direction she came from, only to return with another inappropriate choice of wrapping paper. He considers it his own fault for trusting her to go back and pick out a more appropriate selection, because, well, it's _Beca,_ and she only comes back with the choice of Santa bending over and showing his ass off to the entire world.

"Is this better?"


	13. gingerbread

Jesse insists on building a gingerbread house together that year.

Something about, 'It'll be fun!' and 'We've never built one before!' and a bunch of other stuff she doesn't remember hearing but she relents nonetheless and agrees to his sugary decorating festivities.

He buys what has to be the biggest gingerbread house building kit from the store. Not that she's surprised, her boyfriend was over the top with just about everything he did. It comes filled with the cookies for the actual house and just about every candy you can possibly imagine. She's about to start tearing into the box when his hand flies to the top of the box and prevents her from doing so.

"First, I have to lay out a couple ground rules."

She pushes herself against the back of the chair. "Ground rules? For making a gingerbread house?"

"You are not, under any circumstances," he pauses, for dramatic effect she figures, "to eat any of this candy."

Her eyes meet his and she realizes that, _oh,_ he's serious about that rule. "Fine. What's the second rule?"

"Don't eat any of the candy."

"You said that already."

"Yeah, but I thought, maybe if I say it twice, it'll actually sink in."

She only shoots him a deadpanned glare in response.

:::

"That's weird," he says scouring their dining room table full of candies and frosting.

"Dude, what?"

"The box said it came with two bags of marshmallows."

She's quick with her response. "They must have ripped you off."

"And the candy canes," he complains, ruffling through the piles of candy on their dining room table once more. "It says it came with four, but there's only three here."

"I think you picked out a defective box, Jess."

:::

"Where are the gumdrops?"

She looks up at that, watches as her boyfriend look up and down and left and right for the bag of gumdrops on his mind. "Hmm?"

"The gumdrops," he mutters quietly. "I need them for the rooftop."

"I don't know." She shrugs from her seat across the table. "They're not in the box?"

"No."

She starts searching through the remaining candy bags with him. "They must have forgotten to put a bag in our box. I told you the box was defective."

"Bec." His hand comes to rest on top of hers.

She stops searching through the mess on the table at his touch and looks up at him. "What?"

"I know you've been eating the candy," he says softly.

"What? I have not. It's against the rules to do that."

"Bec."

"What?"

"You have candy cane pieces stuck in your teeth."

* * *

 _We have reached the half-way point!_


	14. peppermint

He's got the whole thing planned out.

Really, she thinks it's kind of ridiculous and a little bit insane considering they can just go buy a pack of twelve candy canes at the grocery store right now, considering the holiday season and all, but that's not good enough for Jesse. No, Jesse wants to go to Disneyland for the day to purchase one of the legendary candy canes that they make at Candy Palace on Main Street U.S.A. He even finds a food blog on the internet that tells him the in's and out's of making sure they'll be guaranteed a candy cane on the day of their trip to the world famous amusement park.

They arrive early, line up outside the park before it even opens to ensure that they'll be among the first people in the park and given a wristband that allows them one of the select few candies that will be made that day. They get their red wristbands once gates open with a ten o'clock pickup time written in black sharpie on them.

It's only 8AM, they've got a few hours to kill before they need to return to the candy shop, so Jesse decides on stoping for some breakfast.

And coffee.

Beca's starting to get a bit cranky and he figures it's about time for her to have her morning dose of caffeine.

:::

Jesse's excited as can be when he's standing in line to purchase his red, white and green striped candy cane. Beca doesn't get it, doesn't see what's so exciting about this particular candy cane - but she tries to be excited with him and let him have this moment since it seems to mean a lot to him.

They walk out of Candy Palace with a peppermint candy cane in each of their hands as they start to enjoy the minty flavored sugar stick. They're now fully prepared to ride all their favorite rides multiple times until the parks closes late that night.

But first, Jesse stops one of the photographers and asks them to take their picture in front of Cinderella's Castle.

Beca thinks the picture idea is kind of cliché. "Jesse, we already have two of these pictures with the same background."

"Bec, it's a memory," he says, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Plus, we didn't have these awesome candy canes in the picture the last few times."

She stands on his side, ready to smile for the photographer as he holds up the camera in his hands, but Jesse has other ideas. He turns her face towards his and presses his lips against hers just as the bright flash goes off in front of them.

"You taste like peppermint."


	15. presents

Their first year in Los Angeles, to put it bluntly, is really hard.

Albeit, they've only been in California for six months, but the constant struggles and rejections and trying to find their own footing in a new environment proved to be more difficult than they maybe though it would be.

They're broke. They're completely broke and barely make rent each month and are barely able to keep themselves on a semi-sustainable diet, but they have each other and that's all that matters to them.

They can't afford the flights back home, can't afford to fly back to spend the holiday's with their respected families, so they settle on spending Christmas day with each other in the city they now call home.

Despite their low income, they agree to one present each. Beca's fine with skipping out on buying presents for each other completely, but Jesse wants to give her _something_ , so they come to an agreement that one present for each other is reasonable - as long as it's not too expensive.

They wake up late on Christmas morning, make their usual cup of morning coffee and settle in on their couch in front of their table top tree that served as their only Christmas decoration for the year. Beca's expecting to find only two small presents under the tree, as promised, but when she looks closely at it, she notices there's one more than there should be.

"Jesse, you promised," she says.

"What are you talking about, Bec?"

"One present each." Beca points at the uneven number of gifts wrapped on their coffee table. "There's a third one under the tree."

He pulls his hands up in defense of himself. "I only got you one."

"But, there's three."

"That's not from me."

She pulls the two presents out that are addressed to her, they're only two small boxes and one is indeed from Jesse. But, when she looks at the second name tag, _from Santa,_ she immediately looks up at the only possible source. "Jesse."

"Hey, that's from Santa. You gotta talk to him."


	16. fireplace

Jesse's never experienced an actual blizzard before. An actual, real, snowed-in and stuck indoors with no power type of snowstorm before.

He decided quickly that he wasn't a fan.

Sure, they had snow before in North Carolina, but not like this. Not like the snow he's experiencing right now in Beca's hometown in New England.

The meteorologist had been talking about bad wind and crazy snow totals on the local news the few days before the storm rolled in, and as he sits here in total darkness, surrounded only by a few candles and the roaring fireplace, he's happy Beca and her mom knew how to prepare for this type of storm.

The storm hit two days ago and they'd been without power ever since. Their phones are dead, their laptops are dead, all electronics are no longer in working condition and all they'd been able to occupy themselves with is boardgames. And that's only during sunlight hours because once the sun sets, they have to rely on the fire and candles for the source of their light.

The clean-up had to the be his least favorite part of everything.

The plow hadn't even made it on to Beca's street yet to clear the roads (still hasn't), but they'd spent hours outside removing snow walkways, her driveway and the two cars that were currently sitting in it. It was windy and bitterly cold, and he was shivering and numb by the time he had made it back indoors - only to remember there was currently no heat inside and warming up was going to take a lot longer than it normally should.

Beca's mom got the fire going after that - after the snow had been shoveled and there was no other heat source to consider. Jesse was happy she knew to prepare in advance for a power outage and take the necessary steps to make sure the fireplace could work without any electricity.

He's hoping that he doesn't have to experience another snowstorm like this anytime soon, thinks next time they're planning on spending Christmas in the Northeast they should check the forecast for snow. He misses L.A, he misses the sun, he misses the warmth of their apartment.

But, he's got Beca here with him now.

And, maybe, just maybe, if he's got Beca curled up next to him besides a blazing fire, it's really not all that bad.


	17. stocking

It's weird, she thinks.

It's weird because it _doesn't_ feel weird at all.

The usual awkward introductions and uncomfortable silence that accompanies it, the way she usually always seems to find a way to say something she shouldn't, the general anxieties that seem to always come with something new and something different, something like spending the Christmas holiday with your boyfriends family for the first time.

The Swanson family makes her feel _comfortable_ and _welcome_. Like they actually enjoy her company. They give off this warm feeling that makes her feel like she's _wanted_ there, that they appreciate her being there and spending these special moments with them.

It's different for her. She's used to split holidays with her family. Either with her mom (usually with her mom), or spending them with her dad and Sheila. Holiday's with her mom are distant, cold. Not special. They're not close, not like they were when she was little, and most of the time they ignore the days significance and just order in a few pizzas and watch a movie. Christmas's with her dad are okay, but they're not like this. Her relationship with her father's improved greatly, thanks to Jesse, but it still feels weird. It doesn't feel like home at her dad's place in Georgia.

They bake cookies together, her and Jesse, his parents, and his younger sister, all piled into the small kitchen, cutting out sugar cookies in the shapes of Santa, snowflakes, Christmas trees and snowmen. Mixing frosting into dozens of colors, decorating their home-baked goodies with the sugary icing and sprinkles in the hues of red, green and silver.

On Christmas Eve, they're all told they can open one present from underneath the tree. Jesse's parents hand their two children a box wrapped in snowflake wrapping paper and they rip the flimsy paper to shreds, revealing matching pajamas with snowmen covering the length of the pants. Beca thinks the idea's cute and sweet, but before the two of them have even opened their present, they reach for a third box and tell her there's one for her, too, and she unboxes the same pair of pajama's the two siblings did only seconds ago.

But, it's only when she wakes up on Christmas morning, walking lightly on her feet down the stairs with Jesse's hand tangled loosely with her own, that she has this overwhelming feeling of belongingness.

A sense of what the word family might actually feel like.

On the Swanson's red brick fireplace, the tall pine Christmas tree's colored lights illuminating the room in the still early morning sunlight, are five stockings lined up in complete precision hanging by a nail, including one with her name on it in green glittered glue, filled to the brim with candy and presents wrapped in the winter themed paper.

She's felt it before - but not in a place. Not with a family like this, with a whole group of people. She's felt it with Jesse. Jesse accepted her and Jesse made her feel like she was wanted, that she would always feel home when she was with him. But, this was different. She felt apart of something bigger.

She stops in the doorway, unsure of what to say, unsure of what to do. She feels her eyes fill with tears, but she blinks as many back as she can. Jesse stops with her when he notices she's paused in her movement and he looks carefully at her, cupping her face with the palm of his hand while he leans down to look into her ocean blue eyes.

"Are you okay?"

She looks up at him, and she knows he must see the wetness in the corner of her eyes, because he takes his thumb from his opposite hand to wipe away the few tears, ones that must have left her eyes unwillingly.

She can't even bring to her memory the last time she woke up on Christmas to her own stocking. She's not really sure if it ever even happened once. Maybe when she was very young, she wonders, before the fighting started, before everything went to hell. Before she was kept awake at night to her parents screaming at each other and neglecting the usual normalcies as they dealt with their falling relationship. That's what she remembered about her childhood. The fallout of her parents marriage. Her dad skipping town when she was just seven years old, staying behind with her mom as she dealt with the depression and anxieties that followed suit.

It's overwhelming. To see these people, this family of this boy, that she's only been with for a couple of years, be so welcoming to her in joining the family. To make her feel like she's _a part_ of this family.

"I'm okay," she says, softly, in barely just a whisper. "It's just…I'm really glad I'm here."

"I'm glad you're here, too," he whispers gently, leaning in to kiss her softly against the lips. "C'mon, we've got presents to open. Santa came last night!"

Beca rolls her eyes at her boyfriend, smiling nonetheless as he drags her to sit by the tree which was already lit up for the day in it's assortment of colors. He keeps her close, holding on to her hand as his parents hand the three of them their stockings from above. And okay, maybe she does steal a peanut butter cup from the top of hers and pop it into her mouth.

"I saw that," Jesse says, gripping her hand tightly that's intertwined with his, resting on his lap.

"Beca, this one's for you!" His mom holds the package in her hand, reaching across the room to hand her the neatly wrapped box.

This feels like family, she decides.

This feels like home.

* * *

 _Fun fact! This was the first one I wrote for this little series._


	18. cookies

_I apologize for not getting my last two days up. They were written, but I'm currently in a hospital bed and did not have my laptop until now. So, three updates for today!_

* * *

When she wakes up on Christmas Eve morning to an empty left side of the bed, she's not completely taken by surprise. Jesse'd mentioned the night before that he was going to wake up early and grab a few things from the store. He'd offered her to come with, but she declined, telling him it was stupid to go shopping on a holiday and everyone should learn how to just get their shopping done on time.

It's around ten when she swings her feet to the floor, and she hears light sounds coming from the living area, so she figures he's already returned from his trip. And when she walks down their small corridor and gets her eyes on the kitchen - the counter top is buried in flour, sugar, chocolate chips, sprinkles, butter, and powdered sugar.

And that's only what she can see on the surface of his monstrous pile of a mess.

"I thought you only needed a few things," she says. That catches his attention, causing him to turn his back around away from her.

"Yeah, this is my few things."

" _That's_ a few things?" She moves towards pile of baking supplies, tossing a bag of chocolate chips aside, moving a few things around to see what else is underneath it all. Baking powder. Baking soda. Food coloring. Cookie cut-outs. A random bag of carrots. "Jesse, what the hell are you planning on doing with all this stuff?"

"Not just me," he smirks and _dammit_ she should have seen this coming. "Us."

"Jesse." She knows her voice comes off as whiney, but really, this wasn't something she was interested in. At all.

"It's Christmas Eve. We have a very special guest who's visiting us tonight and we have to bake him some cookies."

"And the carrots are…?"

"For the reindeer." Beca can't believe the words she's hearing fly out of her boyfriends mouth. She just stares at him until he turns towards her and notices her unamused expression across her face. "Bec, the reindeer need to eat, too."

"Yeah, I'd hate for them to feel like they didn't exist or anything." The sarcastic come back rolls off her tongue like sweet, sticky honey.

His face turns to hers, an unimpressed gaze meets hers and she has to bite down on her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing. Jesse brings a piece a paper into his view, the recipe, she assumes. "Can you get the measuring cups? We need to cream butter and a cup of sugar together."

She does as asked, setting the glass cookware next to all his ingredients. "Take it away, Chef."


	19. santa

Jesse totally had set her up.

The whole, _'Wanna go to the mall for a little?'_ and, _'I just need to get a few more things, I promise,'_ that he sold her on.

She should have totally seen this coming, considering he'd told her he finished his Christmas shopping up last week.

But, she didn't, which is why she's currently standing in line with a bunch of other kids to get her photograph taken with Santa Claus with her boyfriend who she's pretty sure is actually seven years old.

"Jesse, this is ridiculous."

"It'll be fun, Bec." His tone indicates to her that he is entirely too excited to be taking a picture with Santa at twenty years old.

"We are the only people in line over the age of ten."

There's only a few people ahead of them in line at this point. "So?"

"You know what," she says as she watches the next little girl in line step up to the man in the red suit. "You can stay here and take your picture with Santa, I'll go wait in the car."

She turns to walk away but he grips her hand to keep her place. "I don't think so."

"I'm not sitting on his lap."

"What do you think I am? A monster?" He feigns disappointment and shock when he looks at her.

"Well, you are making me take a picture with Santa."

They're next in line when the assistant dressed up like an Elf ushers them towards the guy in the green chair. They stand behind Santa, Jesse's arm wrapped around Beca's shoulder. She knows not to fight it. She knows if she doesn't smile the first time, she's just going to end up back at the end of the line if he doesn't get this picture the way he wants it, so she forces the most genuine smile in direction of the photographer.

"You're so buying me lunch now for putting me through that traumatizing experience," she says as Jesse grabs the picture from the working Elf.

"Traumatizing? A bit dramatic," he responds, hand held tight in hers as they walk away from the Christmas display towards the direction of the mall exit. "I suppose I could splurge for lunch, though."

And, sure, okay, she thinks that maybe the picture does come out kind of cute but there's no way she's gonna tell Jesse that.

She doesn't want to have to relive that traumatizing experience ever again.


	20. sledding

"You wanna go sledding this afternoon?"

Her boyfriends question takes her by surprise at first, but then she considers the source, and well, most things Jesse says on a daily basis are pretty damn weird, so maybe it isn't all that surprising that he's suggesting this.

"We live in Los Angeles," she deadpans.

"Yeah, so?"

"It's 70 degrees outside. I hate to to break it to you, Jess," she saunters her way slowly into their little apartment kitchen, sitting herself at the barstool behind the tiny island while Jesse prepared lunch for the two of them. "Snow isn't in the forecast today."

"Who says you need snow to go sledding?"

"Snow is a pretty necessary component to sledding, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, Bec. There you go again." He's _so_ dramatic. His back is facing her, but she can see his exact facial expression in her mind. "Always underestimating me."

He pushes her plate in front of her, but her eyes stay focused on him, trying to figure out what the hell he's got running through his mind. "Well, this oughta be good."

:::

"You want me to slide down this hill on a piece of _cardboard?_ "

He just looks at her with that goofy grin and those wide eyes she's come to know so well. "Yeah."

"Not a chance in hell." She turns around with every intention of walking back to their car, but he grabs her arm to turn her back around before she can make it far enough.

"Bec, c'mon. It'll be fun." His eyes droop down like a puppy's and his mouth curves down into a pouty frown. "Please?"

She crosses her arms across her chest. Damn, Jesse and his way of _always_ getting her to cave. "Fine. But just once."

He grins. "It won't be just one time once you try it."

"I won't do it all if you want to be a smart ass."

"Fair enough," he nods. "Let's go."

He brings her up to the top of the hill. She feels _so stupid._ There are people watching and her boyfriends making her slide down a hill on a piece of cardboard in attempt to go _sledding_.

It's so embarrassing.

He's brought a 'sled' big enough for the both them - Jesse never came unprepared, she had to give him that. She sits herself between his legs, him effectively behind her. His feet push against the ground until they've efficiently made their way to the bottom of the hill.

He stands up first, looking back up to the top of the hilly terrain. "What do you say to sliding down the hill…while standing up on the sled?"

This was going to be a _long_ afternoon.


	21. jingle bells

Her boyfriend's got a really weird sense of humor.

Or an annoying one, judging by the headache she's had for the past couple of hours.

They'd been in Los Angeles for around seven years when they've both finally made some progress in their respective career choices. They're nowhere near where they'd like to be, but things are stable as far as income goes, and that's more than they can ask for after several years of struggling to keep their apartment and even keep food on the table.

It's that year that Jesse finally suggests adopting a dog. Beca doesn't love the idea; she barely thinks she can take care of herself, let alone take care of another living, breathing animal, but after some encouragement from Jesse, she agrees and the two of them adopt a small, white papitese and name her Stella.

Jesse, being Jesse, thinks it's a wonderfully festive idea to buy the poor dog a collar with a series of jingle bells sewed into it.

Beca does not find the idea nearly as amusing, as the dog has only had it on for a matter of two hours and the constant sound of bells ringing through their apartment every time she moves in slightest bit is, quite frankly, driving her insane.

"Please, for the love of god, can we _please_ take the damn collar of her now?"

"No!" She can't believe he actually sounds _offended_ by this. "It's festive, Bec."

She groans. "It's giving me a headache."

"It sounds like Christmas. She's a Christmas dog."

"I'm taking it off her." She reaches for the collar on the dog thats currently sitting in her lap, trying to find the buckle to release the collar from her neck. "My dog will not be the subject of this matter."

"Says the girl who didn't even _want_ the dog." Jesse stands by Stella's food bowl in kitchen, refilling the empty tin back up to the top. "Stella, are you hungry?"

The dog hears the the food clink against the side of her bowl almost immediately, jumping off Beca's lap and darting towards the familiar spot in the kitchen before Beca can even think about removing the collar. The jingle-jangle sound rings through the room, instantly causing Beca to groan aloud. Stella finishes eating only a few minutes later, no longer amused with the fresh food in her bowl, resuming her spot on Beca's lap. Jesse wanders off to their bedroom, for who knows what - she doesn't care, Beca's just quick to take advantage of the empty room and take Stella's collar off of her and toss it into the trash before he can even object.

It's not until the morning when he notices the unusual quietness in their apartment whenever Stella moves. "What happened to the bells?"

* * *

 _I don't even know what this, honestly._


	22. snowman

Jesse _likes_ spending the holidays with Beca's mom in New England.

Despite the cold temperatures and the snow that they've run into a few years in the region, he likes it. It feels like the traditional Christmas that's portrayed in movies and on TV, not like Christmas he was used to growing up below the Mason Dixon Line, where temperatures are far above freezing and the sun is almost always shining. And definitely not like Christmas in Los Angeles, where temperatures were even warmer and the sun shined even brighter.

The first year they spend there - it's all so new to him. The cool air, the falling snow - he's never experienced anything like it before, all his family being from the same area. It's Christmas night when the snow starts falling, they miss most of it, only waking up the next morning to just a few inches on the ground. It's not much, but it's exciting for him. Beca's not amused, hates the stuff, wants to stay inside all day and wait until it melts before rejoining civilization, but Jesse has other plans.

He drags her outside, despite her cursing him up and down for ' _forcing her out into the arctic,'_ and tells her they should build a snowman.

"No," is the automatic reply. He drops to his knees and starts forming his own snow-angel under her mom's front yard. "Jesse, you look ridiculous."

He pulls himself off the ground, trying to shake the snow off his coat and jeans, but it's cold and thick and wet - the perfect snow for building a snowman. "Alright, Bec. We've gotta get started."

"I'm not helping you," she says.

:::

She helps.

But she'll probably deny with every ounce of her being that she did.

He uses one of the scarves he brought along with him up North for the snowman, finds a carrot in the fridge inside the house for his nose, and manages to dig up a few dark rocks that are out on the still unplowed street.

Jesse steps back a few feet with Beca at his side, admiring their few hours of work. "We'll call him Frosty, what do you think?"

"I think that name's been taken."

* * *

 _Do y'all know how good it feels to almost be done with this? It feels so good._


	23. carols

" _Oh, the weather outside is frightful._ "

The objection comes almost instantly. Loudly, too, to ensure her voice is heard above his constant singing and persistent piano playing. "No."

" _But the fire is so delightful."_

She tries again. "Jesse."

" _And since we've no place to go._ "

"I'll find somewhere to go if this little recital keeps up."

He ignores her, unsurprisingly, lost in his little world of Christmas music. " _Let is snow, let is snow, let it snow._ "

"It's like, 70 degrees outside, snow seems like a slim chance, don't you think?"

"Must you ruin everything with your sour disposition?" His hands stop gliding across the piano before he replies to her, but no longer do the words leave him mouth does a new chord progression start up from the direction of the piano in their living room. " _I'll have a blue Christmas without you._ "

"If you keep this up that's exactly what you're going to get."

"We must insert some Christmas spirit into you." His fingers stop dancing along the piano keys once again. She watches him with that weird and confused expression on his face that tells her he's thinking of the next song to start playing. " _What are you doing New Year's, New Year's eve?_ "

"Thinking I might find someone else to hang out with right about now."

He stops again, eyes wandering to the girl sitting on their living room couch. He pats the space beside him on the piano bench when she darts her eyes in his direction for a brief moment. "Come sing with me."

"Absolutely not a chance in hell."

"You have the first line," he says ignoring her rebuffed response. His fingers glide across the piano keys with ease and the familiar melody starts ringing through the room. " _Baby, it's cold outside._ " She can see how he looks over at her to where she's resting on their couch, notices how he wants her to sing the next line. She hopes he'll just give it up, but this is Jesse and he's really damn persistent. " _Baby, it's cold outside._ Bec, you're supposed to be singing before me."

"I know how the song goes."

He keeps playing on, singing the duet all by himself. It sounds ridiculous to Beca, he's missing words when the lines overlap each other and his sentences really make no sense at all. She doesn't know how but she's somehow managed to make her way over to sitting beside him on the piano bench. He smirks at her, stops playing his current chord progression and starts the song from the beginning notes. " _I really can't stay."_


	24. christmas movies

Friday nights were movication night.

Or, as Beca liked to call it - a snooze fest.

Jesse tried and tried, but movies weren't her thing. Still, she let him have Friday nights to watch a movie and maybe, possibly, they would intrigue her enough to actually watch the full thing instead of dozing off on his shoulder like she normally did. Although, that didn't happen all that often.

It's the first Friday night in December when he pulls out a collection of Christmas movies and the first words out of her mouth are: "Absolutely not. Not a chance. Nope. Not happening."

"Oh, it so totally is." He stacks up a pile of about ten DVD's on his bed next to her body. "We're watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas."

"Jesse." He's immune to her whining at this point in their relationship, but she continues to put on her best whiny voice every week. She'll crack him eventually, she thinks.

She hears the sound of the DVD player closing across the room.

It's not this week, apparently.

"It's about a very bitter man who hates just about everything." He crawls into bed beside her, she curls up into her usual position - tightly into his side with her head on his shoulder, ready to fall asleep at any given point. "He reminds me of you."

"Ha-ha," she says, eyes rolling back into her head, but it lacks any real humor.

:::

He thinks he finally might have cracked her.

After eight months of being in a relationship, eight months of watching her snooze off on his shoulder whenever he would put a movie in, the movie comes to an end and she's fully awake.

Not only is she awake, she _laughed_. For a good portion of the movie.

He knew he'd find the right film someday, he just really didn't think it would be a Christmas movie about a man who hates Christmas. Then again, it's Beca and she does hate most things so maybe she found him relatable.

The credits start rolling and he asks, "So, what did you think?"

He expects her to respond in a positive way, seeing as she seemed to enjoy it. But, because Beca is _Beca_ , he really shouldn't have been all that surprised when she responds the way that she does.

"I didn't like it."


	25. resolutions

_Wow, okay. We've reached the end! This was such a big challenge for me, to actively keep writing every single day, but, I did it!_

 _There's a slim to none chance that I'll actually turn my laptop on tomorrow, so throwing the last update out there today. This one's a cheesy mess and I'm not even sure what brought this about. Happy holidays, everyone._

* * *

New Year's Eve is a quiet holiday for them.

It's pretty much always been this way - Beca hates going out and Jesse's much happier just spending time with her than a group of other people, anyways. They tried the party thing in college one year, both realizing quickly that they'd rather be curled up in bed with each other without the surrounding crowd of people who have had way too much to drink for one evening.

Jesse throws on some random movie, they order in some pizza from their favorite little pizza shop near their apartment, and curl up on their grey couch in some pajamas. They're not really paying attention to the movie, they're more engrossed in the random, unimportant conversations they're having until Jesse asks her a question he seems to always ask on this particular day.

"Do you have any resolutions this year?"

She looks to the left of her at the source of the voice. "I've told you before that resolutions are stupid."

"Okay," he says defensively. "You're right, you have."

"It's just," she starts slowly, trying to choose her words carefully. "You tell yourself your going to do something and then when you don't actually do it you feel like shit. So, what's the point?"

"What if," he begins, placing his plate of pizza and fries on the coffee table in front of him. "What if we looked at it different?"

She looks at him with a confused expression etched on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Like, what if," he tries. "If a resolution is more of a promise to yourself."

"That's kind of the same thing, isn't it?"

"I promised myself something last year," he ponders the thought out loud, ignoring her ability to try to look at the bigger picture.

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"I promised I wouldn't let this year go by - without asking you to be my wife."

Her expression changes immediately at what he's implying, eyes shooting in his direction, wide open and with obvious fear shining in them. "No. Jesse. No, don't you dare do this."

He drops down to one knee of the rug below their feet, reaching for his pajama pocket to pull out a small black velvet box. "Bec."

Jesse can see the actual anger in her face when she looks down at the boy on their living room floor. "Jesse, I swear to god, if this is some cliché..."

"Will you do me the honor..."

She interrupts him almost immediately. "If I just say yes now, can we skip the whole cheesy part?"

"Really?" He tries to sound disappointed, pulling himself back up to sit next to her. "I had this whole speech planned and everything."

"Yeah," she says. "I'm sure you did. Seeing as I found the ring weeks ago."

"I thought you were gonna keep me on my toes there for a while. Wait. What?"

"Yeah, you need better hiding spots," she responds, Jesse settling back into the warmth of her side. "What I want to know...is why it took you a whole year to ask me if you planned this a year ago."

"Well, uh, you see..." Jesse fumbles over his words, leaving Beca rolling her eyes at the boy she's looking at.

"Just put the damn ring on my finger, you idiot."


End file.
